Decision‐making authority of former soviet and American managers: Not so different after all?

The restricted decision-making authority of industrial enterprise managers who functioned in the centralized planning system of the former Soviet Union is legendary. The distribution of authority among managerial levels within the enterprises, however, has received far less attention. The authors provide a profile of the decision-making authority perceived by 90 managers at four hierarchical levels in Soviet manufacturing enterprises. Their responses to 15 decision items are compared with those of 140 American manufacturing managers. The authors evaluate the similarities and differences between the two national groups as well as among four managerial levels in each of the two groups. They conclude with implications of these findings for managers involved in business relationships between the United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.